Tom-Ka-Gai

I know that you are all waiting impatiently for Zappa's tips and tricks from the tasty camping kitchen.
And I know that I too have to play my part, albeit a very small part, in making the meals a success. This primarily consists of ensuring that the best ingredients are available, especially those that are essential for Asian outdoor wok cooking, are plentiful at home and simply have to be taken with you on the trip.
My job is to think of all the indispensable, important, indispensable and tasty ingredients.

Well, in principle I'm willing! I thought about the sharp knives, the Japanese knife sharpening stones, soy sauce, sambal oelek, I packed two cans of coconut milk, which you simply can't find in French discount stores. Yes, I even thought about the lime juice so we wouldn't have to buy the fifth bottle on the go!

But oh shock and also oh horror! When finally clearing out the fridge at home, I overlooked the cans with the yellow curry paste and the finished seasoning mix for the delicious Tom Ka Gai soup in the depths of the same!
Yes, I also provided the sunflower oil, which was still an issue ten minutes before departure, but then left it at that. That's not the problem, the vegetable oil crisis has now been overcome in France. But there is no way the master can do without the precious, extremely important and incredibly delicious Asian seasoning pastes for the next four weeks!

Luckily, Google finds an Asian food shop in the multicultural and university city of Besançon. Tang-Marché has everything that is left in the home pantry for high-quality wok cooking. So we set off on the exciting journey to the big city.
Well, the biggest adventure is finding a parking space for our long vehicle. But the Parc stationnement Chamars, right on the banks of the Doubs and close to the center and the citadel, offers generous parking spaces and there are even two spaces left for us, which we occupy along the length and which don't cost anything more in the early evening.

After a few minutes' walk we are in the Asian store and Madame Tang has largely the same range as Mister Phung in Braunschweig: hundreds of types of instant noodle soups, various sweet and spicy chili sauces, bags of rice, even more noodles, soy sauces, colorful spices and hurray! Curry pastes of all spicinesses.
We quickly find what we are looking for, nothing stands in the way of our successful camping kitchen and the Bombay fish curry finally tastes good again.

If I hadn't forgotten to refill the jar with oyster sauce for the Drunken Noodles at home, which unfortunately we only noticed when it was time to start preparing them in the outdoor kitchen at the caravan. Well, there's probably another Tang Marché in Dijon...

A Thai tom ka gai soup is really delicious and recommended and not that difficult to prepare, but neither vegetarian nor vegan because you can't leave out the chicken. Here is a short guide:

You need chicken broth (not Maggifix or similar and ideally prepared yourself), the most tender chicken meat, preferably from the leg, coconut milk, galangal or ginger, lemongrass, chilies, onions, coriander roots (can also be done without), oyster mushrooms (mushrooms will work if necessary also) and especially lime juice. Or you have the Tom Ka Gai paste from Mister Phung or Madame Tang, which has almost all the good things in it. The secret now is to fry the chicken as tenderly as possible so that it doesn't become dry and fibrous and to find the right seasoning.
And measure the squeeze of lime juice precisely.

In the original, the soup is very Thai, hot and spicy. You can add chilli or pepperoni to your taste. We prefer Sambal Oelek, which is not classic but has a fruity note.

Bon appetite!